As a consequence of the high escalating cost of diesel fuel, the railroad industry has found it necessary to pull heavier and longer loads of rolling stock over its rail systems. These systems in most states have become somewhat deteriorated from lack of proper maintenance and sometimes are passable only at greatly reduced speed. Recently questions into the safety of transporting hazardous materials by rail have been raised as a result of the seemingly many accidents caused by these antiquated rail systems and the magnitude of a potential disaster when a hazardous cargo spills during its passage through highly populated areas.
Rail fastening devices have been available to the train industry almost from the time of its inception. One such rail-fastening system is set forth in U.S. Pat. No. 874,535, Dec. 24, 1907, issued to Percival. In this system a rectangular cushion is fitted to tightly engage the rail and provide a recess in which the bottom portions of the lugs or spikes engage the rail to hold the same firmly in position. This cushion prevents the lug heads on the outside from leaving the flanges of the rail during heavy use. The material of the cushion is taught as being elastic in nature, such as wood.
A second U.S. Pat. No. 914,093, issued to Weston in 1909, discloses a tie plate system to prevent the "creeping" of the rail over the plate and substructure. Succinctly stated, this is accomplished by use of a tie plate with oppositely disposed shoulder formations adapted to grip the edges of the rail base when the rail is seated. Another 1909 U.S. Pat. No. 935,679, issued to McWethy, discloses a rail tie of concrete having adjustable rail chairs to confirm to the grade of the road bed. These rail chairs have a seat or chair cut out for the base flange of the rail. The yokes holding the rail chairs to the ties are adjustable to conform to the extent of torque exerted on the rail chairs in relation to the gage of the road. In U.S. Pat. Nos. 956,499 and 954,538, both issued to McKee, a rail is held in place by spikes situated on an incline and passing through a tie plate to allow the rail to have a fixed quantum of play. Other similar rail fastening assemblies are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,001,879 and 2,008,946.
A railroad tie block is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 1,076,577, issued to Hollis, which comprises a grooved wooden block channelled for reception of the bottom portion the rail to be held. The flanges of the screws provide a means to secure the rail and also provide easy repair or removal of the tie block portion. In U.S. Pat. No. 1,443,275, issued to Radelet in 1922, a system is disclosed for the fastening of a rail to a tie member. A bearing plate is provided to receive the conical head of a holding screw and thereby firmly secure the bottom flange of a rail pressed beneath the bearing plate. An angular holding clip is disclosed in Wesolik, U.S. Pat. No. 1,454,090 (1922) for securing the bottom flange of a rail. The latter is inserted in the angularly raised portion of the clip and likewise the tie transversing the underneath side of the clip. A 1935 patent to Boyce, U.S. Pat. No. 2,018,658, disclosed a tie plate having a recessed area for the seating of the bottom flange of a rail and underneath extending ribs for securing the tie plate to a wooden railroad tie.
A system utilizing a holding or fastening clip is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,004,715 (1961). A special securing bolt having both horizontal and vertical serrations is provided to insure the bonding of the bolt to the railroad tie. The disclosed tie plate has a grooved portion for the reception of the bottom flange of the rail. A pad of rectangular configuration is available if desired to be situated between the tie plate and tie. This pad may be made of fiber or insulated material and can be used in signal track section where insulating qualities are important. An insulating and cushioning pad is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,268,170 (1966) which is mounted on a cross tie and supported on a concrete bed. The rail is held in place via a steel bearing plate having the resilent pad thereunder completely encompassing and thereby insulating the rail to be traversed by a subway train.
A patent issued to Campbell et al., U.S. Pat. No. 3,469,784 (1969), discloses that the prior art generally desired to contour the rails to the conical shape of the wheel slope. The problem of "shelling" the outer rail in a curved track was addressed by increasing the outer-curve rail to a 2 in 40 slope to thereby distribute the wheel load over a much greater top area of the rail. This increase in the cant is accomplished by a tapered insert which is anchored by spikes also passing through the rail plate and passing in a perpendicular manner into the rail tie. Another recent U.S. Pat. No. 4,141,500 (1979), issued to Gragnani, discloses a railway tie plate having at least one rib to locate the rail and two arches under which parts of rail chips are driven parallel to the rib.
The aforementioned prior art generally discloses problems and solutions to various problems concerning the longevity of a track system. The instant prior art does not show or suggest a system as herein disclosed and set forth in the appended claims.